Makeup of Airport Panel Is Debated : Government: Burbank voters may be asked to decide whether council members can also sit as commissioners.

The City Council debated Tuesday night whether to ask voters to amend the City Charter to prohibit council members from serving simultaneously as representatives on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

If the council approves the charter amendment, the issue will be on the ballot at a special election or during the next statewide election on March 26, 1996.

Council members said the proposed amendment would not affect a joint powers agreement under which the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena own the airport.

The agreement provides that the airport authority be governed by a commission of nine members, with each city appointing three. When it was originally drafted in 1977, the agreement required that the airport authority be composed exclusively of city council members, but it was later amended to make council membership optional.

In the past, Burbank council members have appointed themselves as airport commissioners, an action that critics said created a conflict of interest.

“We didn’t know if they were representing the taxpayers of Burbank or the interests of the airport authority,” said Councilman Bob Kramer, who proposed the amendment. “I think we should let the people of Burbank decide the issue once and for all.”

According to a report by City Atty. Joseph P. Fletcher, a simple ordinance could accomplish the change temporarily, but could be repealed later when new council members are elected. To give the restriction more permanence, he advised council members to amend the city charter.

The California Constitution requires that such charter amendments be approved by a majority of the city’s voters.

Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski expressed support for the amendment.

“I think the airport authority and City Council clearly need to be in synch with each other,” said Golonski. But in the past, having council members double as commissioners “didn’t work out fantastically,” he said.

Councilman Bill Wiggins called the amendment unnecessary.

“As a council, we are basically directing our airport authority commissioners on how to vote, which I think is appropriate,” he said. “So what is the difference between me appointing another council member or appointing someone who is not a council member?”

“The issue is important, but I am not sure that this amendment is needed,” Wiggins said.

Although the Burbank City Council does not have direct power over the airport authority’s actions, it may dismiss the city’s three airport commissioners at any time and appoint new representatives in their places.

Since the airport authority’s inception in 1977, five Burbank council members have simultaneously served as airport commissioners.

Leland C. Ayers, council member from 1973 to 1985, served as a commissioner from 1977 to 1990; Mary Lou Howard, council member from 1979 to 1991, served as a commissioner from 1985 to 1991; Robert R. Bowne, council member from 1984 to 1995, served as a commissioner from 1991 to 1995; Michael Hastings, council member from 1985 to 1993, served as a commissioner from 1991 to 1993, and George Battey Jr., council member from 1991 to 1995, served as a commissioner from 1993 to 1995.

The proposed amendment would not affect airport commission representatives from Glendale and Pasadena. Currently only Pasadena has council members who also are commissioners, including Mayor William Paparian and council members Joyce Streater and Chris Holden.

“This won’t affect them at all,” said Kramer. “They can do what they want.”